XL] FAILURE OF HEALTH. 373 



under every circumstance create a pang. I hear the 

 happy pair go to Naples. I could envy them if I 

 allowed myself to dwell on it. After we were married 

 we too spent a happy winter there. Oh ! the charm of 

 the long mild December evenings with rosy sunsets, 

 when Alicia on a donkey and I on foot rambled for hours 

 among the woody craters of Agnano and Astroni, and 

 the charming shores of Posilipo and Baiae ! The spring 

 is the worst thing everywhere/ 



To E. C. BATTEN, ESQ. 



'EDINBURGH, January 17th, 1858. 



* ... I had a charming letter of four sheets from 

 Wills some weeks ago. I feel as if he were an " alter 

 ego " when he describes his feelings and doings in the 

 Alps. He has bought a few acres in Savoy, and intends 

 to build. Auguste Balmat is, I suppose, living with him 

 now. Do you know anyone who knows him? .... 

 He was educated at University College, London. Sin- 

 gular to say, he and Balmat picked up last Summer on 

 the Mer de Glace, a hammer which I had dropped into a 

 "moulin " in September 1842.' 



To the Same. 



'EDINBURGH, January 25th, 1858. 



' . . . The hammer ought to have travelled nearly 5,000 



feet in fifteen years. This is consistent enough with its 



ing been "opposite the Taldfre" when lost, and "below 



the Tacul" when found. I conjecture that Wills must 



have picked it up near where line G H of my map crosses 



re of the glacier. I find a full entry of the loss 



in my journal of September 25th, 1842.' 



To A. WILLS, ESQ. 



'EDINBURGH, January l&th, 1858. 



' I feel much indebted to you for your delightful letter 

 of the tol Dec. Though I have personally known very 

 many Alpine travellers, and have corresponded with 

 more besides, I have never met with one who entered 

 so thoroughly and inMinniv.-ly as yourself into what 



